Effect of graphite particulate on mechanical characterization of hybrid polymer composites

Quest for producing lightweight and biodegradable materials has encouraged researchers to replace synthetic fibers with natural fibers. Hence a study is made to investigate the effects of introducing secondary reinforcement (natural fibers), stacking sequence, and addition of graphite particles on the mechanical characteristics and water uptakes along with diffusivity of hybrid (glass\jute) composites. Different weight fractions of graphite particulates are incorporated into the epoxy to produce different samples having 4 plies for each sample by hand layup vacuum bagging method. The obtained specimens are subjected to various mechanical tests, water absorption tests as per the ASTM standards, and optical microscopy was used to study the fracture morphology of the samples. The results displayed that the properties are deteriorated a little with the addition of secondary reinforcement, however they have improved with the addition of graphite. E-Glass as skin layer and treated jute as core layer composite exhibits ameliorate tensile strength (201.5 MPa), compression strength (515.12 MPa), flexural strength (106.9 MPa), hardness (25 BHN). However highest impact energy of 26 J is recorded for the sample with jute as skin layer and E-Glass as the core layer. Water absorption tests revealed that the addition of graphite has reduced the water absorption in the hybrid samples.